Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-08-19

to your own showing the chlncss that you
viii die this year ars at least per cent Are
you prepared for the tremendous exigencyt
The most cond sm1el MAI in the judg nent
day will be the unprepared life Insurance
man, for the simple reason that his whole
business was connecte with human exit, AMI
he cannot say: II did not think" His whole
business was to think on that one
thing. o. my brother, get insured for etsr-
nifty. In consideration of what Christ hat
done in your behalf, have the iudenture this
day made out, signed and sealed with tn, red
seal Of the cross.
But have words of encourag ment and
comfort for those of my hearers who are en-
gagged in the fire insurance business. YoI
are ordained by God to stand between us an
the most raging element of nature We are
indebted to you for what the national board
of underwriters and the convention Of chiefs
of tho fire department have eifscte1 through
your suggestions and through yoIr encour-
agemeut. We are indebted to you for what
you have effected in the construction OF
buildings, and in the change in the habits Of
our cities; so that Dy scientific principle,
orderly companies extingulsh the fire, instead
| of the cd time riots which used to extn Suish
the citizens. And we are indebted to you for
the successful demands you have male for
the repeal OF unjust laMS=for the battle yoa
have waged against inrendiarism aud arson
for the fatal blow you have given to this
theory that corporations have no SOULS by
the cheerfulness and promptitude with which
you have met losses from which YOU might
have escaped through technicality of ths
law l do not know any class of men in our
midst more high toned and worthy Of conf
dence than these men, and yet | have some
times feared that while your chief business
Is TO caIcutlUe aoouU IoSssS Oh earthly
property, yor might without suffi cient
thought go in'o that which, in regard to
your soul, i'll your own parlance might
be called "hazarlls,n extra hatlr ls,n "sps.
cial hazards An unfo gwen sin in the soul
is more inflammable and exDlo Gve than cam
phene or nitro glycerine. However the rates
may be-Tea, though the whole earth were
paid down to you IN one solid premiumAylu
cannot afford to lose your soul. Do not taks
that risk lest it be said hereafter that willis
in this world you had keen business faculty,
when you went out of the world you went
out everastingly insolvent. The scientific
Hitchcocks and Sillimnns and Mitchells of
the world have unit I'd with the sa ii writer's
to make rs believe that there il coming a
confagration to sweep across the earth, com
pared with which that of Chicago in 1881. and
that of Boston in 1872 and that of New York
in 1885. were mere nothing, Brooklyn on fire.
New York on fire. Charleston on fire. San
Francisco on firel Canton on tirel ST. Peters
burg on fire! Paris on fire! London on fret
the Andes on fire! the Appenim9s on fire! the
Himalaya on firel What will be p.culiar
about the day will be that the water with
which we put out great fires will itself take
flame; and the Missss:ppi; and the Ohio and
the St Lawrence and Lake Erie and the
Atlantic and Pacific oceaus, and tuulbling
Niagara, shall with red tongues lick the
heavens. The geological heats of the center
of the world will burn out toward the cir
| conference, and the heats of this outside will
burn down from the circumference to the
center, and this world will become not only
according to the Bible, but according to sci
ence, living coal, the living coal aferward
whitening into ashes, the ashes scattered by
the breath Of the last hurricane, and all that
will be left Of this glorious planet will be the
flakes of ashes fallen on other worlds OH on
that day will you be fireproof, or will you be
a total loss! Will you be rescued, or will you
be consumed! When this great cathedral of
the world, with its pillars of rocks, and its
pinnacles of mountains, and its cellar of
golden mine and its upholstery of morning
cloud, and its baptismal font of the sea- shall
blaze, will you get out on the fire escape of
the Lords deiverancei OH on that day
for which all other days were made, may
it be found that these life insurance men had
paid up policy, and these fire insurance men
ha given them, instead of the debris OF a
consumed worldly estate, house not made
with hands. eternal in tn heavens.